Learning is Change

It is our job to prepare kids for what comes next. The unfortunate part is most of us can’t tell the future. Fortunately, though, the skill of thinking will never go out of style or be outmoded. Think for yourself, and model your thinking for/with kids.

Hour of Code

Create your own Google logo WITH CODE! This is a great Hour of Code project that you can do easily with kids, in any classroom.

Meet Remote for Google Slides, a new way to control your presentation slides

This is a great new resource for both student and teacher presentation in the classroom. Use your phone to view slide notes and advance slides!

Paper Signals by Isaac Blankensmith & Smooth Technology – Voice Experiments

Just click on ‘Launch Experiment’ to see how easy it is to make physical objects that can react to voice and triggers on the web. This is a great way to show the potential impact of coding in the real world!

We don’t always know what is hiding underneath a question from our students (or from our colleagues, for that matter). We can’t always see the motive for inquiry, but we can support that inquiry no matter what. We can count all questions as genuine.

Tackling the ‘homework gap’ with the National AfterSchool Association

I really like thinking through how after school programs can be an integral part of our learning ecosystem, especially when it comes to digital skills and engagement.

PD, Planning and Tech Investment Are Integral to Blended Learning Success

Some of the conclusions in this report seem obvious (I.e., teachers need support!), but the advice for creating change is in our classrooms is more than welcome.

Easily add a site-wide footer in the new Google Sites

While it may be a minor update to some, the ability to have a consistent header on a Google Site is going to make things a lot easier for those using the tool for portfolios and classroom websites.

There is a great deal of power in what you choose to do. Your actions show priorities and they show promises you are making to yourself and others. Our actions also tend to beg us to ask the highly reflective question, “What am I doing?”

Product vs. Process?

A short meditation on what approach we should take to prepare students for the “real world”.

Time for a refresh: meet the new Google Calendar for web

A most beautiful and super useful update has arrived for Google Calendar and it is available to all aurorak12.org accounts! Just click “Use New Calendar” and enjoy!

A ‘Roadmap’ to Implementing Micro-credentials

Strong advice for how to move forward with a professional Learning model based upon demonstrating skills rather than seat time.

Giving thanks is not a measure of someone else’s worth. It is a measure of our own. The more that we give thanks, the more that we understand just how much others have done for us and how others have supported us in getting to where we are. Do it, always.

How to Force a Docs Copy WITH Pre-Loaded Comments to Help your Students

This is an amazing feature that can be used to support students with important links and resources to further learner opportunities.

Shouldn’t PD be more like kindergarten too? – Home

I really love the metaphor of PD as kindergarten. With all the choices, the collaboration, and the learning! Adult learners deserve all of these too.

Better tests don’t lead to better teaching, study finds

Some interesting findings on the value of teaching vs. test preparation. Great news for those who love impactful instruction and student engagement!

Sometimes you can feel the raised bumps of a message through the day. Telling you to move forward, to move faster. The divots and tiny mountains of understanding that we must listen to from others and from ourselves. They spread across our daily routines.

The Most Common Mistakes Teachers Make Trying to Manage Cellphones

What should we do about cell phones in the classroom? Ban them or use them? Hide them or let them stay on the tables? In this piece of advice, an educator talks through many different things that he has tried and exposes what has worked for him/others.

Collaborative Computing vs One to One

It is always good to look at alternative models to 1 device per student. This quick blog post has great resources for how to make instructional decisions about using devices in your classrooms and schools.

SeeSaw – The Making Thinking Visible Machine!

Having a go-to tool for making thinking visible in the classroom is incredibly helpful, both for setting up routines in you classroom/school as well as for empowering students to know something deeply rather than hopscotching from one thing to the next.

Sometimes wind is flying directly at our faces, making it hard to see ahead. Other times it is at our backs, making everything easier to move forward. Whatever way the wind is blowing, know there are people alongside you, locking arms and making progress.

Making Student Feedback Work

How can we listen to our students better, especially about what they want in their classrooms from teachers and learning experiences? This research helps to tell that narrative.

New languages now supported in Google Docs and Slides files, as well as Docs editors templates

Great news for our kids who need language support in our classrooms and schools! You can create templates in kids’ native languages and do better translation using Google Docs features.

K-12 Policy Updates: Mandatory Fall Reading for Every Education Entrepreneur – EdSurge News

Sometimes educational policy that affects our classrooms flies under the radar. This summary and analysis is an attempt at making sure that doesn’t happen.

Getting behind (on Grading, on Email, etc.) is a chronic condition for many of us. So, respond to the emails you can. Grade what you must. And, engage in deep and reflective practice that will benefit yourself and others. Don’t catch up, learn.

The 6 Drivers of Inquiry-Based Learning

Asking questions is one of the most important things we can do in the classrooms. Here are a few drivers for how to empower students as the ones asking these questions.

Opinion: Forget ‘digital natives.’ Here’s how kids are really using the Internet

I have always struggled with the ‘digital natives’ metaphor. This is a compelling alternative that really shows the role that adults can play as mentors and models for students using technology in schools.

Feeling safe at school is a right. For our kids, and for our adults. We should create that safety in all of our spaces, online and offline. And we will…

It’s Time to Take Back Personalized Learning – EdSurge News

This is the exact sentiment we’ve been trying to start with the hashtag #ReclaimPL. Personalized Learning is about students owning their learning, not software making instructional decisions!

Six Examples of What Personalized Learning Looks Like

If you are looking for real-world examples of personalized learning, here are some great ones!

We CAN do a lot of things to support our students. We SHOULD do everything we can to keep our kids safe. But, what WILL we do to empower them, to build their future alongside them?

How would you finish this statement?

We WILL…

MIA in School: Instilling a Sense of Purpose in Students – EdSurge News

I really like this statement: ‘Purpose is not something we can give students, but it is something we can help them find.’

Digital Portfolios + Micro-credentials = Massive Impact for Students & Teachers

It is so valuable to see both student and adult learning mirror one another in our schools. We are all learners, and using the same tools and ways of learning helps to emphasize that.

Create your own ‘My School App’ in Google Slides for mobile devices #edtech

A really cool example of just how easy the tools for creation, collaboration, and communication are within our classrooms and schools.

We should remember our educational heroes, those that came before us and taught us how to learn. Those that helped us turn light bulbs on every day, and those that made us work to create our best selves. We should remember them and thank them.

Experiment with updates to Science Journal, now on iOS

New app from Google turns a phone or tablet into a science notebook!

The Case Against Automated Student Data Dashboards – EdSurge News

In this interesting reflection on the use of data in classrooms, one educator sees the value in students, rather than teachers and principals, owning the data and using it for learning.

Padlet has been a highly useful tool in many classrooms for years, but these new features make it even easier to include in group Work and projects. What ideas will you “vote on”?